Running
Get inspiration and advice on how to set your new personal best, and up your chances of earning a VIP experience at Silverstone.
For those who are able, running is one of the simplest forms of exercise available.
As triathlete Lucy Charles-Barclay says in the Why I Run podcast, "it's so simple – all you need is a pair of shoes, and to get out the door".
Whatever your ability, here is a list of tips from top athletes and fitness gurus that should give you plenty of inspiration to improve your running time.
Run, push or cycle 5.9km in the Red Bull Flying Laps challenge you could win tickets to Red Bull Pole Position at the 2024 Grand Prix at Silverstone. Why 5.9km? Because that's equal to one lap of Silverstone race track.
Are you up for the challenge? Join the Red Bull Flying Laps Fitness Challenge for the chance to run on the circuit at Silverstone, and even tickets to Red Bull Pole Position at the 2024 Grand Prix at Silverstone.
01
Lucy Charles-Barclay
Triathlete Lucy Charles-Barclay won the 2021 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in St. George, Utah. She is also a three-time runner up at the IRONMAN Worlds in Kona, Hawaii. She says she runs "for the buzz". Follow her @lucycharles93
Sport can be quite lonely, but if you can get involved with a local club or drag your friends out for a run, it does make it a lot easier.
Set yourself an achievable goal
"It might just be, ‘You know what? I'm going to try and run every single day, or I'm going to run a couple of times a week. And I'm going to try and hit a certain amount of kilometres per week.’ So it doesn't need to be a huge goal. But it's something that motivates you enough to want to do it.”
Drag your friends along
"When I was getting into triathlon and didn't really know what I was doing, I'd just make all of my friends do it with me as well. We'd boost each other, motivate each other. It makes it a lot easier if you're doing it with other people, rather than just doing it on your own. Sport can be quite lonely, but if you can get involved with a local club or drag your friends out for a run, it does make it a lot easier."
02
Tom Evans
Ultrarunner Tom Evans placed third at UTMB 2022, running 106 miles through the Alps, with almost 33,000ft of elevation, in a time of 20:34:36. But don't worry, nobody is asking you to do that for Red Bull Flying Laps – you only need to run 5.9km once a week for four weeks. Follow @tomevansultra
Here are Tom's top bits of advice.
Warm up properly before you start
"My workout sessions always start with balance and mobility work, standing on one leg or a balance board, getting my core working and firing up my knee below to ensure everything is working properly. Most of my exercises are also single leg – squats, deadlift, step-up, lunges - because for running you’ve only one foot on the floor at a time. Single leg squats are really helpful and specific for running performance."
Make sure you stretch
"I think a lot of runners neglect the stretching and mobility side of training, so I make sure I spend at least 10 minutes stretching before every run, predominantly focusing on my calves and hips. Afterwards, I do a lot of recovery stretches in positions that are based on yoga practices."
Switch up the terrain you run on
"Hit the trails! It's better for your body and limbs than a pavement."
03
Evie Richards
Running is a vital part of the 2021 XC World Champion's training regime, keeping her fit for elite competition. Scroll down for her main bits of running advice. Follow @eviealicerichards
Go out and enjoy yourself. You don’t have to get a PB every time.
Don't forget to eat and drink before you exercise
"My biggest thing is to plan what carbs or protein I am going to have before I leave the house to exercise. I’ve just come back from Spain where I was riding with the road girls. Over there we were riding 4–5 hours with lots of efforts, so that looked like 30g of carbs every half-hour, on the hour. I always have 30g in my bottle that I’ll drink over the first hour and a 30g bar at the hour mark. Normally, to start, I’ll have Red Bull in my bottle, especially if it’s big efforts and then later on in the ride I switch to half apple juice, half water."
Pace yourself – and enjoy it
"Go out and enjoy yourself. You don’t have to get a PB every time. Consistency and pacing are really important. Don’t get too excited on the first workout or the first mile of your run – pace it well and your consistency will pay off."
Want a goal to help boost your running mojo? Regardless of your running level, you can set your own targets – and help researchers find a cure for spinal cord injury – by joining the Wings for Life World Run.
04
Amritpal Ghatora
Amritpal Ghatora is an athlete, a running coach and a Community Manager for Tracksmith. Follow him @amritpalghatora. Here are his tips for first-time runners.
Prepare your kit in advance
Laying out your kit in advance means that you're not leaving anything to chance. Prepare your clothes the night before you run, and make sure you’re choosing weather-appropriate gear. Also throw into your kit bag some supplies – a banana is the perfect pre-run snack – and some drinks.
Get your heart rate up before you start
Prior to your run, go through a routine. It doesn’t have to be long – five minutes or so is enough to get your heart rate up. Warm-ups also prepare your body and (hopefully) prevent any niggles and/or injury. I start off by jogging on the spot very gently, just to get the blood flowing and my body moving. Then I’ll do some knee lifts, some calf stretches, hamstring stretches and quad stretches. I’ll also do some A-skips before I start running. All of this is great preparation for setting off on a 5.9k run.
05
Samantha McGowan
Sam McGowan is a PT and founder of @strongafclub. Find her on Instagram @samsays_pt.
To start with, just showing up is good enough
"There’s plenty of tips, tricks and training plans that you could research but most of us simply need to press the ‘go’ button.
"Starting can feel a little overwhelming for some so, to help, don't feel the need to follow any sort of plan or structure. Start jogging at a super relaxed pace – even if that feels like a ‘shuffle’ to you – and then you can run-walk or walk as much as you like.
Here's an example for a 20-minute run-walk:
- Run for 15-30 seconds
- Walk for 30-45 seconds
- Repeat as many times until the 20 minutes is up
- Doing this twice per week is a great starting point
"The main thing is to get into a good habit of simply showing up, then you can think about following something a little more structured."
Eat well and rest well to run well
"There is no such thing as over-training, just under-recovering. It can be easy to go full steam ahead when you’ve set yourself a challenge, but be sure to keep an eye on how your body and mind are feeling. Muscle soreness, feeling constantly tired and unmotivated are all signs of under recovering.
"Focusing on a well-balanced diet, good quality sleep and keeping stress levels as low as possible all help to improve your rate of recovery."
Strength training can help
"Building a strong body will help improve your pace, technique and it’ll help reduce the risk of injury, meaning you get to keep running. How often you should include strength training into your week will depend on where you’re starting from. If you’re not doing any, starting with 1-2 sessions and easing yourself in will be plenty.
"As always, focusing on how you recover from your sessions will tell you if you’re doing enough/too much. Being able to challenge our body physically should always leave you feeling good. Take the pressure off, enjoy the process and celebrate every win - big and small."
06
Gede Foster
Gede Foster is Director of Fitness & Performance @fiit. As a coach, she aims to help you train smarter. Here are her tips for starting running, or returning to running after an injury. Follow Gede @gedefoster
Try the run/walk method
"When you are starting out on your running journey (or restarting after coming back to running after an injury) the run/walk method can be such a great tool. It promotes 'time on feet' and builds up your endurance gradually without too much load on your body. It also promotes recovery and can be a tool to help you build up speed gradually.
"Depending where you are at in your journey will depend what level you start at, but there are some basic principles."
For time:
- Run 3 mins / walk 1 min for X distance
- Run 5 mins / walk 2 mins for X distance
Distance:
- Run 1 km / walk 250m for X distance
Strength training to support
"Strength training alongside your running program can not help you become a stronger runner, but it can safeguard you from injury. Building some foundational strength can improve performance and can provide a shock absorber, protecting joints and ligaments.
"When choosing a strength program to support your running you want to combine exercises that replicate your running motion to strengthen your mechanics as well as targeting movement patterns not performed in running to ensure balance in your body."
Some key exercises for runners include:
- B-stance deadlift: "This will work your posterior chain muscles, primarily your glutes and hamstrings, ie. your drivers for running. It allows you to shift to a single leg emphasis, strengthening the forward motion for running, whilst improving your single leg stability."
- Lateral lunge: "This will train your lateral movement to work the glute med and adductors. Together, this will help to stabilise the knee laterally every time your foot strikes the floor. It is especially beneficial if you trail run on uneven surfaces."
- Curtsey lunge: "As a transverse lunge, this will train your glutes and adductors to help stabilise the pelvis. The stronger your glutes are, the more you can propel yourself forward when running. It can really help to strengthen your core too. Instead of crunches, focus more on ‘anti’ core exercises, meaning work on stability and control with anti-rotation and anti-extension core drills."
- Anti-rotation core exercises: "These will help you not lose energy through your midline as you transfer power from your lower body to your upper body. Examples are: plank shoulder taps, bird dog, x reach plans, plank weight drags."
- Anti-extension core exercises: "During a run you are constantly in a position of extension in the hips and you want to avoid this extending into your back and causing overload to the lower back so anti extension exercises strengthen this. Examples are: plank, dead bug, pullovers, leg lowers."
"These core exercises will help strengthen your running posture and help you breathe more efficiently, providing further support to your lumbar spine. They'll also help you transfer power from your legs up to your arm swing and vice versa."
Invest in good shoes
"Research has shown that, with every heel strike, you drive force equivalent to three-to-four times your own bodyweight through your lower limbs. While there is a lot of opposing research out there for and against certain types of shoes, when you are just starting out and building your endurance up it would be good to invest in a good pair of kicks that offer you the support your feet need. There are loads of running shops that offer a gait analysis for free; they will film you running and assess what type of shoe support is best for you.
"In my opinion this is a great place to start to ensure you get the support you need."
Never skip the warm up or cooldown
"It is so easy to lace up and get straight out of the door onto the road, but as little as three minutes of warm-up can make all the difference. A warm-up is designed to mobilise your joints dynamically, activate and wake up the muscles you are about to use as well as get the heart rate up."
Warm up example (3mins 30secs per move):
- Knee hugs: dynamic stretch to hip flexors - good for your knee drive
- Quad pulls: dynamic stretch of a main muscle group about to be used
- Hamstring scoops: dynamic stretch of a main muscle group about to be used
- Glute bridge marches: Activates hip drivers and hip stabilisers
- Pogo jumps: raise heart rate and activate calves for recycling energy
- Skaters: raise heart rate and activate muscles dynamically laterally
"Following this, the first kilometre or two should be at a slower pace than your main run."
Cooldown example:
"A cooldown is the preparation for your next training session. It helps bring the nervous system back to a state of rest. It also helps to kick-start the recovery process in your muscles."
- Calf stretch
- Quad stretch
- Hamstring stretch
- Chest stretch
07
Esmée Gummer
Esmée is a fitness coach and presenter. Follow her @esmee_ldn.
To begin with, don't worry about distance
"If this is your first time running, my number one tip would be to start small and build yourself up. Aim for 'time on feet' rather than distance. This basically means getting out on your feet either walking, jogging or running for a set time without calculating the distance. I would begin with 20mins and work your way up to 40mins, then move on to intervals of distances with breaks and then, finally, only distance!"
The main win is staying injury free
The main win is to stay injury free – here's how
"The most important tip for anyone running whether you are new to the sport or have been doing it forever, is to improve your strength and mobility. I am telling you right now, I have seen the game change from working on the tiny muscles around my ankles, knees and hips. It might be because you want to improve performance, but actually, the main win is staying injury free."
08
Lawrence Price
Lawrence Price is a Fitness Coach and podcaster. Follow him @lawrenceprice_
If this is your first try at running, build up gradually
"A good way of building up to the 5.9 kilometres in one go is by breaking it down throughout the week. If you do this, you can decide how many running sessions you can fit into your schedule. So, say it was three sessions a week, then you’d proportionately break down the 5.9 kilometres, running a third of that distance per session, without any emphasis on time. You can go at the pace it feels good at, so that you are able to complete that distance. Then, gradually over time, you can start to decrease the amount of running sessions you do while increasing the distance per run. Gradually, you’ll build up enough culminating in one run that is 5.9 kilometres."
Get an idea of how the distance feels before you try to run faster
"Once you’ve achieved 5.9 kilometres in one go – regardless of how long it takes you – you can then start to factor in pacing runs and start to look to increase the time. First up, it’s just a case of getting the body used to running 5.9 kilometres over the course of the week. For me, psychologically, I’ve found knowing that you've run the distance by the end of the week very empowering. It also gives you a sense, physically and mentally, of that distance and what it feels like, which helps you complete it at a pace that feels good."
.png)
